


Aren't voids made to be filled in?

by Glorious_Gladiator



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Nightwing (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Lazarus Pit, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:14:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23649046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glorious_Gladiator/pseuds/Glorious_Gladiator
Summary: This is a  story just like any story, it has an end, a middle and a beginningThis is a story about life, about love, about death and about tragedyThis is a story about how death failed to claim one and, thus chose to return anotherThis is a story about sanity and insanity, about anger and happinessThis is a story just like any story, but let us first focus on the beginning…when dick grayson returns to bludhaven after having been away for a while, he finds that he is not the only person protecting his townUpdates will be sporadic, enjoy
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & OMC, Dick Grayson/OMC
Kudos: 11





	1. Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> I have never seen or written any DC shows/ comics, so I will probably get some facts wrong. I am not looking for anyone to correct that, just a friendly warning that the timeline will not survive this fanfiction.  
> that brings me to my next point, this is a FANfiction, I sadly do not own any of the recognisable stuff, if i do at some point include an OC you will probally notice.  
> I feel like I also should mention that I am not a native speaker, so should I make some mistake on either grammar or spelling, I would really apriciate it if you could let me know. this is also a way for me to improve my English.  
> Last but not least, I am a human being with other things to do in real life (yes, it still exists, shudder) due to this the updates will be sporadic and spread over the other fics that I am working on. you should really check them out, btw.

Long ago, there was a small boy named Marco, or little Marco, as everyone called him.

Little Marco had a happy little family, with a happy mother and father.

Life couldn’t be better, little Marco decided happily.

Then his mother was killed in a fight.

Then, tragedy struck.

It struck hard.

Too hard.

His mother was killed during a fight between two warlocks, a fight about land.

His mother was at the market, doing motherly things, and was shot in the chest with an arrow.

She was at the wrong place in the wrong time, as the priest had said.

But that didn’t change that she was killed, murdered. That didn’t change that his life was now forever changed.

His father became cold, distant. He was grieving, the neighbour called it. Grieving. Depressed. Revenge.

Little Marco’s father wanted revenge. And then revenge came.

His father killed the killer… It didn’t change anything.

Except for the times in which his father was ‘grieving’, could it still be called grieving?

When he was fifteen, his father came home with a book in his hands.

When he was fifteen, his father turned to magic.

Dark magic.

Marco witnessed the man he had once upon a time called father waste away, a new man took his place. Even colder, even more distant. It wasn’t grieving anymore.

When he was twenty-three his father suddenly became pleasant.

He cooked dinner for the first time in sixteen years, for the first time since mother died.

The food was drugged.

When he woke up, he was gagged and bound, in the middle of a circular cavern.

A ritual was preformed, it needed a sacrifice.

It would give his father the means to return his mother.

But to do that his father needed to give up his son.

Marco looked into his father’s eyes when the man held the knife high.

For a second, there was a shimmer of doubt in the eyes of the man who sired him.

The knife came down.

All his bodily fluids flowed trough the cut, pouring out of his body.

They made a pit. The Lazarus pit, as it later would be called.

Marco’s father then realized his mistake.

With no body to heal, there would be no healing.

The sacrifice had been for nothing.

He wept.

He had created a demon. And he found himself the head.

Ra’s al ghul.

Life may be temporary, but the demon’s head had found a way to sustain that life.

The demon’s heart, the Lazarus pit.

Qalb al Ghul.

__---oO0°0Oo---__

Marco’s father thought that was where the story ended, he was wrong.

Death, who was observing this whole ordeal, sighted and gave a sign with his fingers, resulting in a reaper to bring him the spirit of one ‘Marco’.

**“GOOD AFTERNOON,”** the entity spoke, **“I HAVE A LITTLE PROPOSAL FOR YOU”**

Marco raised an eyebrow “I do not think it is good to barter with death. bye the way, what do I call you?”

**“YOU CAN CALL ME MORTIS, LITTLE ONE.”** The entity chuckled, **“OR UNCLE MORT, IF YOU WOULD LIKE”**

The other eyebrow raised itself, “okay then, Lord Death, what is your proposal?”

The entity stopped chuckling **“I DESPISE THAT TITLE”** he said sourly, **“OH, WELL, ON TO MY PROPOSAL. BECAUSE OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF YOUR DEATH, I HAVE DECIDED TO GIVE YOU THREE CHOICES. YOU CAN EITHER RETURN TO THE MORTAL WORLD, BE GIVEN POWERS AND FIGURE YOURSELF OUT, OR YOU CAN BE GIVEN YOUR POWERS NOW AND LET ME TEACH YOU FOR 500 YEARS, THEN RETURN. IF YOU CHOSE THE LATTER, YOU CAN OBSERVE YOUR FATHER, BUT NOT INTERRUPT.”**

The eyebrows rose higher, “what is the third choice?”

**“YOU CAN GO ON”** the entity said, clearly detesting that choice

Marco looked totally at los, “will I be able to see my mother again?” he asked

Death sadly looked down on him, **“NO, LITTLE ONE, IF YOU CHOOSE TO GO ON, YOU WILL NOT SEE HER AGAIN, AT LEAST NOT IN THIS LIFE, WITH THIS CONSIOUSNESS”**

The young man gained a hard, determined look on his face, “then teach me” he said

__---oO0°0Oo---__

Five hundred years had passed and gone, and in those years, Marco grew into a self-assured, wise man. He had brown, curled, shoulder-length hair that he wore in a low tail, his eyes were an endless sea of grey, quite like a void. His build was lean but muscular, with a 6 ft tall frame. He didn’t look a day over 25. He wouldn’t for a long time. Uncle Mort had explained that he wouldn’t age, never. He also couldn’t die, unless he found a soulmate. That soulmate also would stop aging, and the only way for both of them to die would be that his soulmate was killed. It was a daunting prospect.

His ‘abilities’ where the cause of that. He had become a literal ghost in some respects. He could turn invisible on command; he also could walk trough any solid object and fly. But he still had a physical form. He could still touch. He could punch and kick, cares and hug.

Marco looked at the powerful entity that had become somewhat of a father figure to him, and gave him one last hug. “Bye Uncle Mort” he muttered into the pitch-black robe.

**“GOODBYE, LITTLE ONE”** the entity replied, he laid a chain around Marco’s neck, **“IF YOU EVER NEED TO TALK TO ME, JUST TUG 3 TIMES AND THEN WISPER MY NAME, I WILL BE LISTENING”**

With those words, they parted, and Marco walked into the portal that Lord Death had opened for him.

-

Ra’s al Ghul looked in awe as the pit for which he had sacrificed his son suddenly began making waves, the healing waters splashing everywhere. Then, out of the pit, a body began to rise. It looked eerily like his son. Suddenly there where clothes winding around the body, grey cloths that wrapped around the whole… thing… It’s eyes suddenly snapped open, they were grey like storm clouds.

A voice spoke, “Well, Uncle Mort did always have a dramatic flair…” it said

Then it was gone.


	2. Storm Clouds

_176 years later_

Richard John Grayson was having a terrible day, a terrible week really.

First of all was Bruce gone, so was batman. Next to that, college seemed to have it out for him. Al his classes where picking up pace as exams kept creeping closer… And at the very centre of these problem lay the simple fact that Blüdhaven now had two vigilantes instead of one.

Now, I know that that doesn’t seem much of a problem, but the thing is, Nightwing doesn’t know anything about this new player. He only knows that a shadow is following him, sometimes helping him. He only knows that something is keeping the criminals in check when he is in Gotham playing batman. And it terrifies him.

Dick was currently sat in his advanced stats class, a select group of students that didn’t have anything else to do on this hour and were, in some cases, freakishly good with numbers. He still didn’t have any idea why he was here, not that he was complaining.

The prof had simply said to him that he was welcome, and in this class he himself had finally exceled at statistics. During the normal hour he sadly was barely awake, but, let’s face it, who is awake when you are expected to memorise equations on Monday morning at 8 o’ clock? Especially when you just spent the whole night running around in a skin-tight.

He turned his head slightly and looked at another source of his problems: Marco Adams. A new, British student this year and an absolutely gorgeous specimen of the human race. Dick was completely infatuated, head-over-heals.

And honestly, how couldn’t he be? Marco Adams was the perfect guy, always helpful, charming, smiling. But he also had a hard edge. Just a week ago, some brute had called him a racist name that he wouldn’t repeat, even in the privacy of his own head, and Marco had just smiled winningly at him and continued to absolutely obliterate him verbally. It truly had been a work of art.

As he was musing this, Marco turned his way. Blue met grey in moment of shock and something jolted trough him. They were endless, there seemed to be no limit to those eyes. They held knowledge and truth, sharp intellect, they had seen los. They were far to old for the body that held them.

“Grayson,” the owner of those eyes whispered, “you have a question?”

“No, sorry Adams” dick snapped out of his thoughts, “and call me Dick” he added as an afterthought

“call me Marco, then” the other whispered in return and tilted his head back to the lesson

__---oO0°0Oo---__

Grey thunderclouds loomed over Blüdhaven as Marco left yet another unconscious gang to the police. He had thought long and hard over the decision and had decided that he was going to reveal himself to Nightwing tonight, he had followed the other hero around for quite some time and had come to the conclusion that he was trustworthy.

For some reason, Uncle Mort had always stopped him when he got close to what he assumed was Nightwing’s house or apartment. When asked, the immortal being simply said **“NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO KNOW, NOT YET”** it was rather annoying.

With a sigh, Marco turned around and left for the highest tower, knowing that if he stood there, his fellow vigilante would confront him sooner rather than later.

As he was flying, invisibly of course, Marco mused about the interaction he had had with one of his classmates earlier that day. The classmate in question had taken over a rather large part of his thinking capabilities lately. He, to say it simply, was hot. Perfect, one might say.

Now, normally he would just wait for his soulmate, to not get to close to any of the mortals that he never would be able to keep. Uncle Mortis greatly approved of this practice, but yet, for some reason the lord of death was telling him to cultivate that bond. It was confusing to say the least.

As his feet softly landed on the roof of Blüdhaven’s highest tower, he shimmered into view. Now, it was a waiting game.

__---oO0°0Oo---__

Dick eyed the figure before him with trepanation, not sure of what to do. The logical part of him reasoned that this was probably the other vigilante that had been roaming his playground. That he was here to help. The other part in him urged him to attack, because he was obviously a threat. Or perhaps to show him that he was superior. To mark his domain.

He set a careful step forwards, making sure not to make any sound.

“greetings, Nightwing” a soft voice got carried over to him by the wind, “do make yourself comfortable, we have to discuss quite a few things”

How? Just… how? Even batman wouldn’t have heard him, and it’s not like he had an obvious smell, even if, the wind was blowing the wrong way.

“you where breathing quite loudly” the voice again spoke, “and I am sure that you to know the feeling of being watched” it was unnerving, really

“you have been following me for quite some time, haven’t you?” Dick asked rhetorically

“if you are wondering what to call me, void would be the answer” it said, not giving a reply

“is that what you are here for, to answer question?” dick slowly inched closer

“if you ask the right question, yes” he was nearly there

Then the being was gone, just… gone. Not jump of the roof, not fly up , not even teleport with a great deal of sparkles or other special effects. Just… gone

It was at that moment that he felt somebody breath down his neck.

“I think you will find that I do not take kindly to being snuck up to,” It spoke, “I understand that it is you nature, but it would be greatly appreciated if you gave me some sort of warning if you would venture too close. I namely have deeply ingrained instincts that tell me to… ‘dispose’… of someone who comes to close without a warning. Not that I would kill them, just… give them a rather persistent concussion.” The breathing was gone as suddenly as it had arrived

“sorry about that” dick said awkwardly as he turned around to face void, “tough, I have to ask, how did you do that?”

“that’s for me to know, and for you to find out. And you will find out” void said softly

“do you know my secret id?” dick began firing questions

“no, I do not”

“do you know where I live?” he asked suspiciously

“nope, you always mutter something about home when you get closer, that’s my sign to stop”

“are you human?” Dick had to ask, just to be sure

“yes, I am human. Male, if you were wondering”

Dick stared at the being, him, apparently. He had not expected that. He honestly didn’t know what to expect. “a meta-human then?”

“no”

“then what are you?” he asked desperately

“human, didn’t I just say?” the man questioned

Dick gave a frustrated sigh, “I mean, how do you have such abilities?”

“I am one who has been granted powers by an aspect of reality” void’s hoarse whispers sounded, “now, let me ask you a question, where is batman?”

“in Gotham” dick answered, relieved to finally know something about void, even if it didn’t mean much at the moment

“so that’s why you are playing him?” he asked dubiously

“how do you know that?”

“you jump around more than the bat does”

“just how long have you been watching us?” Dick asked, shocked

“long,” void deadpanned, “now, let’s go on patrol” and he disappeared

__---oO0°0Oo---__

Marco collapsed into his chair on Monday morning at 8.00. last night had been the third night since he revealed himself, and it was going rather smoothly. The public didn’t know of his presence yet, but there where whispers. Whispers of Nightwing having a shadow that would move on it’s own accord. Some random civilian had a sound recording of Nightwing calling out for him, for void.

The recording went viral almost immediately. Not that it proved anything. Or got rid of him. It only gave the criminals a name for who to curse when an unseen enemy struck them down.

Just seconds before the lecture began, Dick Grayson raced in and dropped down in the chair next to him, nodding hello when doing this.

The teacher gave an annoyed “so nice of you to join us, Mr. Grayson” and began the lecture.

Marco turned slightly in his seat to look at Dick only to see him collapsed on the table, snoring slightly. With a sigh, he decided that he could be nice, if he wanted to get closer to Blüdhaven university’s own heartthrob. He took some papers out and began making double notes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed,  
> please leave kudos and comments  
> if something is unclear, ask

**Author's Note:**

> I really do hope you enjoyed!!  
> Do leave Kudos and comments  
> ask any question you have, if you do not like anything for watherver reason or if I unintetionally offended you, tell me politely and I'll see what I can do about it


End file.
